NTU Hall 11, a home to students in their prime. Photo: Brian Leonal
The other side of Nanyang Technological University lies NOT in its darkest corners. Neither does it take place after the sunset. No drugs and guns involved. The other side of NTU exists in harmony with its normal, accomplished counterpart, which displays optimistic future, academic robustness and financial security. Quite befittingly, it is the bleak mixing with the bright. It is a few black sheep amongst a giant white herd, rendered invisible by human’s selective perception.
Madam Toh Leong Hui, 83, is part of that other side. Madam Toh has been cleaning in NTU for almost 60 years. With a meager monthly income of $750, she still chips in to pay for her granddaughters’ polytechnic education.
Madam Toh, with a smile that belies what eyes of 80 years have seen. Photo: Brian Leonal
Madam Toh wakes up at five in the morning to clean up her house in Bukit Panjang. At around 6.30 am, she goes off for work in NTU Hall of Residence 11, to have another round of cleaning, although this time she’s paid.
She starts after she finishes her coffee and bread for breakfast. In a day, she has to clear the garbage and clean eight toilets, one lounge, a pantry and a laundry room in Hall 11’s Block 56. She clocks off at 4.30 pm.
Her typical lunch is, like her breakfast, bread and coffee. After work, she still has to cook for her family. She lives with her son’s family of five.
Her son works as a lorry driver. His $2000 income, although considerably higher than hers, is still not enough to finance the household as two of his daughters are studying in polytechnics now. As a result, Madam Toh contributes to the household finances.
Madam Toh, fortunately, has one golden child. One of her daughters gives her $200 every month. With that extra monthly allowance, Madam Toh gets by, although barely. Life has not been kind to Madam Toh. She started working when she was 17 because she did not have money to go to school. She started cleaning in NTU in the 1950s, starting off with a scanty daily salary of $2.
But it was not so bad back then. She recalls a bowl of beehoon only cost her 10 cents. With 50 cents, she could buy a lot.
Her monthly salary gradually increased from $60 to $750. It seems to most that her salary has folded 12 times from the 1950s. However, the price of beehoon has multiplied by 30 times – a bowl of it now costs around $3 on average. The 12 folds increase in wage suddenly does not seem to suffice.
For quite sometime, Madam Toh was the sole breadwinner of the family. Her husband retired 30 years ago as he had trouble breathing. He subsequently passed away 10 years ago.
Despite all these hardship and struggles, Madam Toh displays strength and characters in her work in Hall 11. One day, a resident suffered from a bad fever and his body was severely aching that even lying down hurt him bad. He could not feel his fingers and toes. He lost balance and had to hold tightly to the railing when he went down the stairs to reach the toilet.
After he was done urinating, Madam Toh helped him out go back to his room. She held his arms as he went up the stairs. He could feel the energy the 83 year-old woman exerted to hold him up. While most 80 year-olds are wheel chair bound and suffering from osteoporosis, Madam Toh still walks with a speed, cleans up an entire building every day and cooks for a family of six, without having any CPF, Medishield or Medisave accounts.
But above all else, she still smiles.
This article was originally written as an assignment for the Online Journalism class at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.
